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PACKAGING The Sailor 1911 fountain pen has straightforward packaging. There is the classic blue hard case box with the Sailor logo printed on the top in gold lettering. Inside the blue box, the pen is held in place by an elastic and ribbon on a felt bed. The bed is removable. There is also a cartridge, a converter, as well as a little pamphlet about the Sailor Pen Co. and your pen. Little wasted space with this packaging. It's plain packaging, but I don't feel bad about not keeping it. It also doesn't seem (depending on how you feel about packaging at all) too wasteful.

APPEARANCE

At some point when I was obviously deranged, I did not like the Pro Gear model. I didn't like flat tops. All of a sudden and for reasons I cannot figure out, that changed. It probably had something to do with seeing Sailor's colors in the Pro Gear model. Hello, Hawaiian Ripe!

The Pro Gear has a round body, flat ends, and a wide raised center band near the end of the cap. The center band is engraved with Sailor Japan Founded 1911. The section is round and tapers ever so slightly towards the nib, and ends in a flared ridge. The cap threads at the back of the section are the same color as the pen so they blend in. My favorite part of the pen, aside from the clear, pinkish color, is the super cool finial! I love how the Sailor logo is set flush in the top of the cap. When you collect Pro Gears, this is something that looks so cool when you hold a handful of the pens together... not speaking from experience, just from jealousy.

The entire pen is clear so you can see the nib, feed, and converter inside the pen. As the trim is gold, the gold colored converter matches perfectly.

NIB & PERFORMANCE

The nib is a 21kt two-tone gold nib. It has a single slit, a round breather hole, and is engraved with: 1911, 21K, 875, Sailor and H-MF on the side, the Sailor anchor and some flourishes. The feed is plastic and both are friction fit into the section. While I am usually a super broad nib lover, the Sailor H-MF and MF nibs are superb. They are not scratchy, they are medium wet, and in my experience, they are well-tuned and adjusted. This one does not skip or hard start, and it is certainly a firm writer, making it great for journaling, notetaking, and more. The tip size is quite small so don't expect much in the way of incredible ink shading. It is a very pleasant writer.

The Sailor converter works without issue. The ink capacity is not huge so one may prefer to refill the Sailor ink cartridge. Personally, I enjoy playing around with ink colors so I don't mind the ink capacity. Besides, with the MF nib, the converter will still last you a decent amount of time.

IN HAND

The clip has moderate tension - it can be lifted but it is snug - quite practical. It has a reasonable length so it will clip on safely to papers/pockets.

The section is small but comfortable - no sharp ridges or anything. The cap threads themselves are a bit sharp but they are well out of my grip space. If you have large fingers, they might get in your way, but even so, it's not too sharp. They're not so bad that I wouldn't want to use the pen.

I think this is a great pen in hand - it's extremely comfortable, great weight, great balance. It writes well unposted but it's perfected posted because it posts deeply and comfortably. Writing for extended sessions is no problem. If you have larger hands, you'll likely prefer the Pro Gear as it can be used unposted as well as posted. If you prefer smaller pens like the 1911 Standard or Pro Gear Slim, then using this one unposted might be ideal. I prefer the full-size Pro Gear but I can use the Pro Gear Slim comfortably.

PROS & CONS

OVERALL

I am a big fan of Sailor pens. I love their selection of nibs that are standard options, not a special order. I love the sizes they offer and the COLORS. The colors are so tempting and irresistible! They write well, are quite comfortable, and I think the 1911 and Pro Gears (both sizes) are superb writers. My favorite thing about the Pro Gear models is the beautiful, elegant finial - that anchor logo is simple and pretty!